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By Elisha Fieldstadt
President Donald Trump on Friday said the U.S. is suspending its involvement in the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty and would start the process of withdrawing entirely in six months.
“For far too long, Russia has violated the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty with impunity, covertly developing and fielding a prohibited missile system that poses a direct threat to our allies and troops abroad,” Trump said in a statement.
The U.S. will “suspend” INF Treaty obligations starting Saturday and begin withdrawing from the treaty over the course of six months “unless Russia comes back into compliance by destroying all of its violating missiles, launchers, and associated equipment,” the statement said.
The INF Treaty prevents the U.S. and Russia from possessing any land-based cruise missiles that can strike within a 500 to 5,500 kilometers — 310 to 3,410 miles — range.
The deal signed in 1987 by President Reagan and Soviet leader Gorbachev was primarily designed to keep ground-based nuclear weapons out of Europe.
Russia has been in violation of the Cold War era arms control agreement for more than five years. The U.S. gave Russia 60 days to return to compliance in December when Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced at a NATO Foreign Ministers meeting that Russia was in “material breach” of the treaty.
Trump’s statement Friday said that NATO allies of the U.S. support the decision to withdraw from the agreement “because they understand the threat posed by Russia’s violation and the risks to arms control posed by ignoring treaty violations.”
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
